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Sunday, 12 November 2017

Mon Premier Cristal - Lalique's Dreamy Perfume Collection

"It's a time you take for yourself. For connecting with yourself. For experiencing beauty in everyday life... Perfume is the most intimate form of luxury. It is to make this experience of luxury even more unique, more special, that Lalique has created a new object of desire: Mon Premier Cristal Collection."Yes, they had me at the simple description of the new Mon Premier Cristal Collection*. And oh my, this collection is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! Trying to be objective here, but look at the three flacons!

There's a reason why Lalique always manages to catch my interest. They don't only create a product, there's always a story to accompany it. This time Lalique asked three women perfumers to recreate the scent of crystal in a perfume. And that's what Mon Premier Cristal Collection is: An interpretation of the scent of crystal in three different stages. The perfumes are intended for everyday use and I'm rather sure you'd like at least one of the three scents. Let's take a closer look:

SENSUEL Le cristal en fusion (Molten Crystal) - Karine Dubreuil-SereniKarine Dubreuil-Sereni created the scent of crystal in its molten state. It's a warm oriental scent with the top notes mandarin and orange, the heart notes lily of the valley, peach and heliotrope and the base notes patchouli, vanilla, white musk, tonka bean and amber. The vanilla and tonka bean are the most obvious scents and make the perfume quite sweet. It doesn't contain almond but still smells of almonds. This is because of the heliotrope- Karine aimed to create the scent of toasted almonds to symbolize the molten crystal. I personally enjoy the warmth and sweetness of this scent but I wouldn't necessarily wear it as a perfume but rather have it as a scented candle for the cold winter time.

LUMIERE Le cristal sculpté (Sculpted Crystal) - Alexandra MonetAlexandra Monet got the challenge to recreate the sculpted crystal as a perfume. She focused on the light reflection of the Lalique crystal sculptures and created a floral chypre scent. Until a few months ago I didn't even know that something called "chypre" existed but now I know that I seem to enjoy chypre scents because this isn't the first one I love. You might have guessed, this is my favourite perfume from the Mon Premier Cristal Collection. With top notes of mandarin, black saffron and bitter almond, heart notes of sambac jasmine, tuberose and licorice as well as base notes of patchouli, cashmere wood and musks Alexandra Monet created a warm and wintery scent with just the right touch of sexiness. I love wooden notes because they add so much character to a scent. Even though the heart notes are floral and I'm usually not a fan of floral scents, the combination of jasmine and tuberose totally works for me. Licorice, bitter almond and black saffron contrast the lightness of the floral notes and symbolize the "dark side of the light".

TENDRE Le cristal satiné (Satined Crystal) - Sidonie LancesseurNow we're talking powdery, soft floral oriental scent. Sidonie Lancesseur created the perfume version of satined crystal and she did a great job. The composition of scents she used is very convincing as the scent of something satined. I guess without knowing about the satined crystal my association would have been a powder puff. This looks so much less romantic written down than it sounded in my head... anyway, let's just go with it. The top notes are pear and lily of the valley. The heart notes and the most obvious ones are powdery rose, rose petals and rose essence. The base notes (or dry-down notes) are white musk and vanilla. This is an extremely soft and feminine scent and I instantly have a picture of the type of woman in my mind who could identify with this scent. I like this sophisticated scent but it doesn't match my personality, I hope you know what I mean.

Mon Premier Cristal Collection comes in a beautifully designed bottle. The design is inspired by the symbol of the house of Lalique: the Swallow. The three bottles I have are the 100ml refill bottles and even them look stunning! Brace yourselves, this gem costs over CHF 700. The 100ml refills are around CHF 170 each. So if you're feeling very generous, this might be the perfect Christmas present for a loved one. I felt immensely grateful to get the chance to test these three amazing perfumes. I can already tell Lumière will be one of my go to winter scents. How do you choose a new perfume? Do you also feel like it has to match your personality?

Have a wonderful day!

XX Cheryl

*I got the three refill bottles as press samples, which is extremely generous. As always, all opinions are honest and my own.